Providing adaptive network access

ABSTRACT

A method, system, and medium are provided for adaptively providing network access to mobile devices. The mobile devices have a first interface for a wireless access network and a second interface for a personal area network. The wireless access network connects the mobile devices to a base station, and the personal area network connects the mobile device to other mobile devices that are part of the personal area network. Wireless access conditions are generated by the base station and communicated over the wireless access network to mobile devices that generate network access requests. Additionally, the mobile devices may transmit the wireless access conditions over the personal are network to other mobile devices that are within a predetermined distance. The mobile devices detect that the wireless access conditions in the wireless access network have degraded and adaptively select alternate routes to complete the network access requests.

INTRODUCTION

Conventional mobile phones complete voice communications over aconventional wireless network. The conventional wireless networkincludes a database that tracks a location of mobile phones that areprovisioned communication channels in response to the mobile phonesattempt to initiate a voice communication. The conventional wirelessnetwork may utilize the database to register the conventional mobilephones and store a current location associated with each conventionalmobile phone.

A base station associated with one or more areas in the conventionalwireless network detects weak signal strength generated by antennasassociated with the one or more areas. The conventional mobile phonesthat, are located in, or move to the one or more areas having weaksignal strength may continuously attempt to acquire communicationchannels from the base station when the conventional mobile phonesinitiate a voice communication. When initiating a voice communication,the conventional mobile phones attempt to register with the conventionalwireless network. Because of the weak signal strength, the conventionalmobile phones continuously register or deregister with the base stationin the conventional wireless network. The continuous registering andderegistering of the conventional mobile phones results in congestiondue to the number of mobile phones continuously communicating over theconventional wireless network. Moreover, congestion in the conventionalwireless network is increased during a disaster that renders one or moreantennas or base stations inoperable; because each of the conventionalmobile devices that communicates in the conventional wireless networkoverloads the conventional wireless network with requests to initiatevoice communications.

SUMMARY

The present invention is defined by the claims below. Embodiments of thepresent invention solve at least the above problems by providing amedium, system and method for, among other things, adaptivelyprovisioning wireless access. The present invention has severalpractical applications in the technical arts including reducingcongestion in a wireless access network having weak signal strength,sharing wireless access conditions among neighboring mobile devices, andadaptively selecting access routes based on wireless access conditionsin a wireless access network.

In a first aspect, a set of computer-useable instructions provide mobiledevices with the ability to adaptively access a first wireless accessnetwork when completing a network access request. The mobile devicesreceive wireless access conditions and utilize the wireless accessconditions to generate wireless access messages. The wireless accessmessages provide an indication of whether the network access request canbe completed over the first wireless access network. Based on thewireless access conditions, the wireless access messages may includesuggested alternate routes for completing the network access request.

In a second aspect, the mobile devices receive wireless accessconditions and assign weights to each wireless access condition based onat least a type or magnitude of the wireless access condition and anumber of mobile devices that delivered similar wireless accessconditions. The weights and wireless access condition are stored in adatabase that is utilized to generate the wireless access messages. Thewireless access messages are dynamically updated when wireless accessconditions associated with the wireless access network improves ordegrades.

In a third aspect, a wireless communication system provides one or moremobile devices that adaptively access a wireless access network whencompleting network access requests. The wireless communication systemincludes one or more mobile devices, a database, and an adaptive accessengine. The one or more mobile devices include a first interface for awireless access network and a second interface for a personal areanetwork. The database stores wireless access conditions associated withthe wireless access network. The mobile devices may share wirelessaccess conditions with other mobile devices over the second interface.The adaptive access engine process the wireless access conditions andgenerates wireless access messages. Moreover, the adaptive access engineselects alternate routes included in the wireless access messages basedon the wireless access condition to complete the network accessrequests.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described indetail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, which areincorporated by reference herein and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a network diagram that illustrates an exemplary operatingenvironment, according to embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a feed-forward diagram of an adaptive learning techniqueutilized by mobile devices, according to embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a logic diagram that illustrates a method of selecting accessroutes to complete network access requests, according to embodiments ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a logic diagram that illustrates a method of adaptive wirelessaccess, according to embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide media, systems, and methodsfor an adaptive learning technique that provides the mobile devices withthe ability to learn how to do tasks, such as complete network accessrequests, based on data, such as wireless access conditions, given fortraining or initial experience. For instance, the adaptive learningtechnique is utilized by the mobile devices to generate appropriatewireless access messages based on the wireless access conditionsassociated with a wireless access network. The mobile devices may learnhow to react to wireless access conditions, such as low signal strength.Furthermore, the adaptive learning technique may utilize processingelements within each mobile device to perform pattern recognition whengenerating wireless access messages. Also, each mobile device within apredetermined distance may utilize a feed-forward algorithm to share thewireless access messages. Therefore, each mobile device may utilize theadaptive learning technique to implement pattern recognition andfeed-forward algorithms, which generate and share wireless accessmessages, respectively, in response to wireless access conditions in thewireless access network.

As utilized herein, the term “component” refers to any combination ofhardware, software, and firmware. Computer-readable media include bothvolatile and nonvolatile media, removable and nonremovable media, andcontemplates media readable by a database, a switch, and various othernetwork devices. Network switches, routers, and related components areconventional in nature, as are means of communicating with the same. Byway of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media comprisecomputer-storage media and communications media. The computer readablemedia are non-transitory in nature and store computer-useableinstructions.

Embodiments of the present invention utilize adaptive learningtechniques to train mobile devices to adaptively respond to wirelessaccess conditions. The adaptive learning techniques may trigger wirelessaccess messages that respond to network access requests generated by themobile devices. In some embodiments, the wireless access messages mayinform the mobile devices that registration with a particular basestation on a wireless access network can not be performed based onwireless access conditions or previous wireless access messages. Theadaptive learning techniques may utilize the wireless access conditionsto detect the availability of resources on the wireless access networkand to inform the mobile devices how or when to complete the networkaccess requests.

FIG. 1 is a network diagram that illustrates an exemplary operatingenvironment 100, according to embodiments of the present invention. Theexemplary operating environment 100 includes base stations 110, antennas120, and mobile devices 130.

The base stations 110 receive network access requests generated by themobile devices 130. The bases stations 110 may generate wireless accessconditions associated with wireless access network. The wireless accessconditions may include, among other things, signal strength, capacity,and data loss. The base stations 110 may communicate the wireless accessconditions, over the wireless access network, to one or more mobiledevices that generated the network access request. In some embodiments,the base stations 110 may include databases that store the wirelessaccess conditions and locations, such as global positions system (GPS)data, associated with the mobile devices.

The antennas 120 facilitate wireless communication between the mobiledevices 130 and the bases stations 110. The antennas 120 are associatedwith one or more overlapping or nonoverlapping coverage areas. As themobile devices 130 move among coverage areas the antennas 120 areutilized to receive communication data from the mobile devices 130, andthe base stations 110 receive and further process the communicationdata.

The mobile devices 130 include, among other things, a database 131, afirst interface 132, a second interface 133, and an adaptive accessengine 134. The database 131 may store location information associatedwith the mobile devices, wireless access conditions associated with thewireless access network, and weights that are assigned to wirelessaccess conditions. Also, the database 131 located on the mobile devices130 may be configured to expire at specified intervals, such as everysix hours or upon changing location or coverage areas. In an alternateembodiment, the database 131 may be configured to archive the locationand wireless access conditions. Additionally, the database 130 may bearchived on a remote database located at the bases station 110.

The first interface 132 is associated with the wireless access networkthat connects the mobile devices 130 to the base stations 110. In someembodiments, the wireless access network includes, but is not limitedto, radio frequency networks or other cellular networks. The mobiledevices 130 may utilize the first interface 132 to transmit networkaccess requests and to receive the wireless access conditions from thebase station 110.

The second interface 133 is associated with a personal area network thatconnects the mobile devices 130 within a predetermined distance to eachother. In some embodiments, personal area network includes, but is notlimited to, Bluetooth™, ZigBee™, Infrared, or other limited rangewireless networks. In an alternate embodiment, the personal area networkmay include a wired network, such as a universal serial bus (USB)network or Ethernet network or other wired networks. The mobile deviceswithin a predetermined distance utilize the second interface 133 toconnect to each other and share among other things, wireless accessconditions and wireless access messages. In some embodiments, thepersonal area network may be utilized as an alternate route forcompleting specified network access request. For instance, bandwidthlimited network access requests such as delivering digital content ordata messages are performed over the personal area network when themobile device processes the wireless access conditions and generateswireless access messages that indicate the wireless access network iscongested or unavailable. In certain embodiments, voice or videocommunication among mobile devices in the personal area network may becompleted over the personal area network when the mobile devicesdetermine that wireless access network is congested or unavailable.Additionally, when at least one mobile device 130 in the personal areanetwork has a connection to the base station 120, the other mobiledevices 130 may attempt to proxy voice or video communication throughthe at least one mobile device in the personal area network to completetransaction with mobile device that are outside the personal areanetwork.

The adaptive access engine 134 generates the wireless access messagesbased on at least previous wireless access messages and current wirelessaccess conditions. The wireless access messages provide the mobiledevices 130 with an indication of alternate routes for completing one ormore network access requests when the wireless access network iscongested or unavailable. Further, in some embodiment, the adaptiveaccess engine 134 dynamically selects at least one of the alternateroutes included in the wireless access message to complete the one ormore network access requests. Moreover, the adaptive access engine 134may implement adaptive learning techniques that performs patternrecognition and forward-feeding algorithms when generating the wirelessaccess messages.

One of ordinary skill in the art appreciates and understands that theexemplary operating environment 100 has been simplified and thatalternate arrangement fall within the scope and spirit of the abovedescription.

In an embodiment of the present invention, each mobile device mayoperate in a training mode and a selection mode. During the trainingmode, the adaptive access engine associated with the mobile devicereceives wireless access conditions and utilizes its pattern recognitionto determine the wireless access conditions that are favorable forcompleting a network access request—such as a registration request, apurchase request, a voice communication, a video communication, or othersimilar data communication—over the wireless access network. During thetraining mode, the mobile devices collect wireless access conditions andsends the wireless condition to the adaptive access engine as inputpatterns. The adaptive access engine correlates the received inputpatterns with corresponding mobile device actions, such as connecting tobase station, waiting for signal, or constant call dropping. When themobile device is in selection mode, the access engine may recognizeinput patterns associated with limited device connectivity, dynamicallyselect an alternate route, and transmit a wireless access message withsuggested alternate routes to one or more mobile devices within thepersonal area network. When the input patterns are not recognized by themobile device, the adaptive access engine executes a decision algorithmthat determines whether to complete the network access request based on,among other things, past wireless access messages associate with othermobile devices and current wireless access conditions.

FIG. 2 is a feed-forward diagram of an adaptive learning techniqueutilized by mobile devices 210, 220, and 230, according to embodimentsof the present invention. The adaptive access engine associated witheach mobile device 210, 220, and 230 executes the adaptive learningtechnique to utilize input patterns 240 to generate output patterns 260.Furthermore, in some embodiments, the adaptive access engine assignsweights 250 to the input patterns 240 based on a type or magnitude ofthe input patterns 240 or a number of other mobile device that deliversimilar input patterns.

The input patterns 240 are associated with wireless access conditionssuch as signal strength, channel bandwidth, and channel capacity. Theinput patterns 240 may be generated by base stations that the mobiledevices 210, 220, and 230 are connected to. In some embodiments, theinput patterns 240 are generated by the mobile devices 210, 220, and 230and transmitted to other mobile devices 210, 220, and 230 within apredetermined distance. The input patterns 240 may be associated withone or more particular areas of the wireless access network and may beassociated with location information that identifies the one or moreparticular areas.

The weights 250 are assigned to input pattern 240 based on predefinedimportance levels associated with the input patterns 240. For instance,an input pattern associated with signal strength may have a higherimportance level than an input pattern associated with channel capacity.The weights 250 may include numerical identifiers. For instance, aweight 250 of “0” may indicate that the input pattern 240 in not veryimportant. On the other hand, a weight 250 of “10” may indicate that theinput pattern 240 is very important. In some embodiments the weight 250assigned to the input patterns are dynamic and change based on amagnitude associated with the input patterns. For instance, an inputpattern 240 associated with a low signal strength may have a weight 250that is high to indicate the relative importance of the input pattern240. However, when the input pattern 240 associated with the signalstrength changes to a high magnitude, which indicates that the signalstrength is strong and viable; the weight 250 may be altered to a lownumerical identifier to indicate that the relative importance of theinput pattern 240 is low.

The output patterns 260 are generated by the adaptive access enginesassociated with each mobile device 210, 220, and 230. In someembodiments, the output patterns 260 are wireless access messages thatsuggest or specify actions that complete the network access requests.The wireless access messages may indicate that the mobile device should,among other things, wait for a specified period of time, utilize analternate route to complete the network access request, or utilize aproxy mobile device to complete the network access request. The outputpatterns 260 are transmitted to and utilized as input patterns 240 byneighboring mobile devices that are part of the personal area network.Accordingly, the adaptive access engines in each mobile device 210, 220,and 230 executes a forward-feeding algorithm to inform other mobiledevices 210, 220, and 230 of the wireless access conditions and wirelessaccess messages that are utilized by neighboring mobile devices 210,220, and 230 when completing a network access request.

Embodiments of the present invention provide an adaptive access enginethat utilizes pattern recognition between wireless access conditions andwireless access messages generated by each mobile device that is withina personal area network. The adaptive access engine utilizes patternrecognition to identify input patterns and associated output patternsthat may complete one or more network access requests generated by themobile devices. Further, the identified patterns are shared among mobiledevices within the personal area network. Therefore, the output patternof a first mobile is utilized as an input pattern of a second mobiledevice. Likewise, the output pattern of the second mobile device isutilized as an input pattern of a third mobile device. This feed-forwardtechnique is continued until all mobile devices in the personal arenetwork receives at least one input pattern that is associated with anoutput pattern of at least one different mobile device. Accordingly,when at least one mobile device in the personal area network detects aweak signal or other wireless access condition, each mobile device inthe personal area network is informed of the weak signal and anassociated action, such as waiting for a specified period of time, takenby the mobile device that detected the weak signal. The other mobiledevices in the network that are about to initiate network accessrequests may hold off on issuing their network access requests until thesignal strength issue is resolved or the mobile device may selectalternate routes to complete their network access requests. In alternateembodiments, the adaptive access engine may be located remote from themobile device, and the mobile devices that do not have a local adaptiveaccess engine may proxy execution of the adaptive learning technique viaone or more remote adaptive access engines.

The mobile devices may utilize the adaptive access engine to adaptivelyaccess the wireless access network. Based on the type of network accessrequests generated and current wireless access conditions, the mobiledevices may dynamically reroute the network access requests. FIGS. 3 and4 illustrate exemplary methods that may be utilized to reroute thenetwork access requests.

FIG. 3 is a logic diagram that illustrates a method of selecting accessroutes to complete network access requests, according to embodiments ofthe present invention. In step 310, the mobile devices generate networkaccess requests. In step 320, wireless access conditions associated witha wireless access network are received by the mobile devices. In turn,the mobile devices store the wireless access conditions, in step 330. Instep 340, an adaptive access engine associated with the mobile devicesmay utilize, among other things, the wireless access conditions togenerate wireless access messages that provide an indication of whetherthe network access request can be completed over the wireless accessnetwork. In step 350, the mobile devices select an access route tocomplete the network access request based on, among other things, theindications included in the wireless access messages and a typeassociated with the network access requests.

FIG. 4 is a logic diagram that illustrates a method of adaptive wirelessaccess, according to embodiments of the present invention. In step 410,mobile devices receive wireless access conditions associated with thewireless access network from one or more bases stations or other mobiledevices within a predetermine distance and in a personal area networkwith the devices that received the wireless access conditions. In step420, the mobile devices store the wireless access conditions. In step430, the adaptive access engines associated with mobile devices assignweights to each of the wireless access condition, based on a type ormagnitude associated with the wireless access condition or a number ofmobile devices that delivered similar wireless access conditions. Instep 440, the adaptive access engine utilizes, among other things, theweights and the wireless access conditions to generate wireless accessmessages that provide an indication of whether the network accessrequest can be completed over the wireless access network. In step 450,the adaptive access engine updates the wireless access messages basedon, among other things, new wireless access conditions and previouswireless access messages.

In summary, embodiments of the present invention may provide, amongother things, self-healing during disaster recovery and alternate routesfor completing purchase requests, voice communications, videocommunication, or other data communication. During disaster recovery thedistributed mobile devices share wireless access conditions to informeach mobile device that is part of the personal area network of anestimated wait time for or alternate routes for completing networkaccess requests. For instance, the mobile devices may include aself-healing quality when one or more mobile devices locates viablealternate routes. The mobile device that have located the alternateroutes may attempt to proxy the viable routes to each mobile device in apersonal area network. Moreover, when the mobile devices generate anetwork access request that is associated a purchase request and thewireless access network is congested or is unavailable, the mobiledevices may determine that a transaction processing portion of thenetwork access can be performed over the wireless access network, butthe content delivery may be completed over the personal area network.For instance, when one or more mobile devices in the personal areanetwork own digital content that is associated with purchase request,the mobile device that initiated the purchase request may completetransaction processing details, such as payment and billing over thewireless access network, but content delivery is completed over thepersonal area network. Thus, embodiments of the present inventionutilized wireless access conditions and personal area network toefficiently balance wireless access load.

Many different arrangements of the various components depicted, as wellas components not shown, are possible without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. Embodiments of the present inventionhave been described with the intent to be illustrative rather thanrestrictive. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to thoseskilled in the art that do not depart from its scope. A skilled artisanmay develop alternative means of implementing the aforementionedimprovements without departing from the scope of the present invention.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsubcombinations are contemplated within the scope of the claims. Not allsteps listed in the various figures need be carried out in the specificorder described.

The invention claimed is:
 1. One or more tangible non-transitorycomputer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodiedthereon for performing a method of adapting wireless access, the methodcomprising: generating network access requests for one or more mobiledevices having a first interface to be used in connection with a firstwireless access network and a second interface to be used in connectionwith a personal area network; receiving one or more wireless accessconditions from the one or more mobiles devices in a collection ofmobile devices connected to the personal area network, wherein the oneor more wireless access conditions include delay information foraccessing the first wireless access network; storing the one or morewireless access conditions received from each mobile device connected tothe personal area network, wherein the each mobile device is a phonethat is configured to share delay information for accessing the personalarea network; assigning a weight to the one or more wireless accessconditions based on a number of mobile devices in the personal areanetwork that delivered similar wireless access conditions and at leastone of a type or magnitude of the wireless access conditions; andselecting an access route based on the wireless access conditions. 2.The media of claim 1, further comprising: generating a wireless accessmessage that provides an indication of whether the network accessrequest can be completed over the first wireless access network, andselecting mobile devices in the collection of mobile devices to operateas a proxy for the remaining mobile devices.
 3. The media of claim 2,wherein generating the wireless access message further comprisestraining the one or more wireless devices to generate a wireless accessmessage based on the one or more wireless access conditions.
 4. Themedia of claim 1, wherein storing the one or more access conditionsfurther comprises assigning a predefined weight to the one or morewireless access conditions.
 5. The media of claim 2, further comprisingtransmitting the wireless access message to the one or more mobiledevices in the collection of mobile devices.
 6. The media of claim 5,wherein the wireless access message provides at least one of thefollowing: an indication of alternate access routes or an indicationthat one or more wireless devices should wait to access the firstwireless access network.
 7. The media of claim 1, wherein the collectionof mobile devices are within a predefined distance and form the personalarea network.
 8. The media of claim 1, wherein the wireless accessconditions are associated with the first wireless access network and aregenerated by a base station in response to the network access requests.9. The media of claim 1, wherein the network access requests include atleast one of a registration request, a purchase request, a voicecommunication, a video communication, or a data communication.
 10. Oneor more mobile devices having a first interface for a first wirelessnetwork and a second interface for a personal area network and storingcomputer-executable instructions for performing a method of adaptivewireless access, the method comprising: receiving wireless accessconditions from at least one of a base station or one or more mobiledevices in a collection of mobile devices within a predefined distance,wherein the mobile devices form a personal area network; storing thewireless access conditions in a database on the one or more mobiledevices; assigning a weight to the wireless access conditions based on anumber of mobile devices in the personal area network that deliveredsimilar wireless access conditions and at least one of a type ormagnitude of the wireless access conditions; generating a wirelessaccess message that provides alternate access routes based on thewireless access conditions; updating the wireless access message basedon new wireless access conditions and previous wireless access messages;generating a wireless access message that provides an indication ofwhether a network access request can be completed over the firstwireless access network; and selecting at least one mobile device in thecollection of mobile devices to operate as a proxy for the remainingmobile devices based on the wireless access message.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, further comprising transmitting the wireless access message toone or more mobile devices in the personal area network.
 12. The methodof claim 10, further comprising selecting an alternate access routebased on the wireless access message.
 13. The method of claim 10,wherein based on a type associated with a network access requestgenerated by the one or more mobile devices, the wireless access messageindicates that the personal area network is an alternate access route.14. The method of claim 10, wherein the type of the network accessrequest is a limited bandwidth request.
 15. A wireless communicationsystem having one or more mobile devices that adaptively accesses awireless access network, the system comprising: a database to storewireless access conditions associated with the wireless access networkreceived from the one or more mobile devices, wherein the one or moremobile devices are phones that share delay information for the wirelessaccess network and each phone includes interfaces for a personal areanetwork and the wireless access network; and an adaptive access engineto assign a weight to the wireless access conditions based on a numberof mobile devices in the personal area network that delivered similarwireless access conditions and at least one of a type or magnitude ofthe wireless access conditions and to generate wireless access messagesthat provide, to the one or more mobile devices, an indication ofalternate routes based on at least one of the weighted wireless accessconditions and previous wireless access messages, and the adaptiveaccess engine selects at least one of the alternate routes included inthe indication for the one or more mobile devices.
 16. The wirelesscommunication system of claim 15, wherein the wireless access network isat least one of a radio frequency network or cellular network.
 17. Thewireless communication system of claim 15, wherein the mobile devicestransmit wireless access condition over the personal area network. 18.The wireless communication system of claim 15, wherein the databasestores a weight assigned to each wireless condition.
 19. The wirelesscommunication system of claim 15, wherein the base station transmits thewireless access conditions to at least one of the adaptive engine or theone or more mobile devices connected to the wireless access network. 20.The wireless communication system of claim 19, wherein the adaptiveengine updates the wireless access messages based on at least newwireless access conditions and previous wireless access messages.